I feel many of my clients miss the simple things in planning and try to complicate it without needing to do so.
It’s a very masculine energy.
You can always spot masculine systems a mile away for how they so like to make things so much harder than they have to be. (Keep in mind, I’m referring to energy, not men.)
Here’s some feminine energy for you and your financial planning, meaning this is simple, you write it down, you decide you are going to do it, you commit and in queen-like fashion, it is so.
It’s meant to be easy, don’t complicate it and make it harder than it is.
#1. Create an Emergency Fund
- Decide how much you want in cash on hand, decide how much you want in your HISA (High Interest Savings Account – look for an account offering about 2% right now) I would personally not have this money invested anywhere – the goal is to keep it as liquid as possible.
- I recommend at least 3 months, but 6 months expenses to be sure
- You figure out your monthly expenses by writing them down on paper or using a cash flow spreadsheet which includes the item and the amount (simple) and adding up the total monthly expenses then multiply by 3 or 6 months or whatever amount of months of savings you want to have stashed away for an “emergency” (yes, a time like this when you may find yourself forced not to work.)
- Figure out how quickly you can build that base through saving or move money around or just mentally note to yourself that ‘this’ pot of money is now allocated to my emergency fund or sell something you own on Kijiji that’s collecting dust to create that base of money for you. There’s a million ways to make money even when you can’t “work”.
- Set in your mind the GOAL of “X” and do not waver from the amount you have set.
- Note: Line of Credits and Credit Cards DO NOT COUNT as emergency funds. Cash is always KING. Roll up those quarters like my Oma used to! (Banks can take away credit, it just happened to a business client of mine! Don’t kid yourself, it’s not your money.)
REASONS WHY TO HAVE AN EMERGENCY FUND?
Besides the obvious, aka. needing the cash when you are out of work for whatever reason, the bigger reason is that creating your FINANCIAL BASE is the biggest peace of mind you can create for yourself (well, that and having a proper insurance portfolio in place).
This financial base needs to be in place first before you can grow the rest of your financial tree and branch out into other ways to grow your money.
If you really want to not stress about money, put together this pile of money as your base. It will give you 3 to 6 months to breath and think through the next steps if you were ever to be in a position to not work.
This is known as RISK MANAGEMENT.
It’s like finding all the places your boat could leak from and plugging the holes.
Stay financially afloat longer, don’t sink financially and all the other blah blah financial analogies I can draw from this floating boat example.
You are the captain after all.
Have you done a proper risk management review? (Oh, you haven’t – call me!)
Creating a simple plan and implementing it and following through (that’s key!) is how you….
Live Your Legacy!
xx Lisa
PS. If you want to learn more, go to financialbliss.ca and get your INVESTMENT PLANNER and tutorial for FREE!
